patrick.net

Excerpt:

Third, Mueller has found evidence that Trump was compromised by a hostile foreign power during the election. In his plea deal, Cohen revealed that Trump had repeatedly lied to voters about the then-candidate’s financial ties Russia. While Trump claimed during the campaign to have no business dealings with Russia, he was negotiating a wildly lucrative business deal not simply with Russian businessmen, but also involving with the Kremlin itself. Trump’s team even reportedly tried to bribe Russian President Vladimir Putin by offering him a $50 million penthouse.

Worse, Russia not only knew that Trump was lying, but when investigators first started looking into this deal, the Kremlin helped Trump cover up what really happened. That made Trump doubly compromised: first, because he was eager to get the financial payout and second because Russia had evidence he was lying to the American people—evidence they could have held over Trump by threatening to reveal at any time.

Since the president’s embarrassing performance at the Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin—when he kowtowed to a foreign adversary rather than stand up for American interests—there has been open speculation about what leverage the Kremlin has over him. Now we know at least part of the picture, raising the specter of what other information Putin has, and how he is using it to influence Trump’s policy decisions.

Fourth, we know that Trump has engaged in an increasingly brazen attempt to cover up his actions: installing a political crony to head the Department of Justice by potentially illegal means in an effort to shut down the investigation; using his former campaign chairman and convicted criminal Paul Manafort to find out information about Mueller’s investigation; and even appearing to offer Manafort a pardon if he helps him obstruct the Russia probe. These may be components of an obstruction of justice case, but they also provide strongly circumstantial data points as to how serious Trump himself views the allegations of collusion being levelled against him.

marcus says

Mueller is coming for Trump. Believe it.

No he is not. Nothing will ever happen -- and not because Trump is a Saint Protector of Failed Hair Care Products and Savior of Blue Collar America.

It is all a Dog and Pony show to entertain and rile up electorate.

We'll see. I'm not saying there will be a conviction of Trump for a crime, while he's still President. But grounds for impeachment are certainly there. I sort of hope they don't. But the grounds are there.

I can imagine a Trump resignation, followed by Trump trying to build his right wing media empire - which is what he wanted to do in the first place, when he fully expected (and wanted) to lose in 2016. Perhaps a deal in which he resigns in exchange for not having to go to prison ?

marcus says

Perhaps a deal in which he resigns in exchange for not having to go to prison ?

That benefits neither R's nor D's, so it is unlikely. For D's, harping ORANGE MAN BAD, WILL GET INDICTED TOMORROW constantly is the best strategy so that their electorate is riled up and votes. For R's impeachment of their Pres (even though Trump is not much liked among R establishment) is bad, so they will not go for it as well.

If I just believe hard enough, if I just preen long enough, if I just emote crazy enough I will cause Trump to get impeached?

What, no DailyKos diatribes. You know, there are deplorable, uneducated, ignorant and biased Hillary voters, as well.

Why are you quoting a propaganda news site?

BTW, if you watched CNN or MSNBC last night, particularly the lying congressman Ted Lieu, you got a VERY false narration of what the memos said.

You do understand that, correct?

If there really was language in the memos linking Manafort's and Cohen's actions to Trump and collusion with the Russian government, don't you think CNN and MSNBHeehaw would have prominently displayed those excerpts on screen? Certainly FOX does that when theres a smoking gun...they show excerpts of documents all the time.

Because that didn't happen last night, you REALLY should question why Ted Lieu and Jeffrey Toobin are flapping their gums, yet don't prominently display the text that prove their point beyond any doubt.

And in the absence of such, you probably should think that what they are saying isn't true.

You have critical thinking skills. Lets see you use them.